'Sleeping Beauty' is the ultimate fairy-tale ballet

BOSTON - As Larissa Ponomarenko prepared Boston Ballet dancers for “The Sleeping Beauty,” she recalled the thrill of dancing the lead role in 2009.

“When Aurora enters is one of the most exciting moments in the ballet,” said Ponomarenko, a former Boston Ballet principal dancer and now ballet master. “It’s almost like the feel of carbonation in water. My heart would be pounding in the wings waiting for that moment.”

Along with “The Nutcracker,” Tchaikovsky’s “The Sleeping Beauty” is one of Boston Ballet’s most popular and longest-running works, bowing April 28 to May 27 at the Boston Opera House. The company previously performed this version – choreographed by Marius Petipa with additions by Sir Frederick Ashton – in 2005, 2009 and 2013.

“The choreography has been revered for so many years,” said Ponomarenko, who retired from dancing six years ago after 18 years with the company. “There are a lot of solo roles that are very demanding, especially Aurora, and a lot of corps de ballet unison dancing. It’s classically based so the dancers have to be in ultimate form.”

In three acts with 61 dancers, the ballet is a visually grand production with sumptuous sets and costumes by Emmy Award-winning designer David Walker. In five rotating casts, Princess Aurora will be danced by Lia Cirio, Misa Kuranaga, Ashley Ellis and Seo Hye Han.

“The part needs to be performed with a certain character,” Ponomarenko said. “In the first act, she’s an optimistic, blossoming young girl, and in the last act she’s a woman in her prime who has found her love. There’s an arc that has to be conveyed through the body.”

Kingston native Lauren Herfindahl, who will dance in the ensemble and in the solo roles of Crystal Fountain Fairy and Pas de Trois, said the demands of the choreography reward the audience.

“It’s a very taxing show, but very beautiful,” she said. “You have to be clearer and cleaner in your dancing, and when it’s done well it looks effortless, which is amazing for the audience to see.”

The ballet also has the larger-than-life character of Carabosse, the jealous and vengeful fairy who curses that Aurora will prick her finger on a spindle and die at age 16. Erica Cornejo, wearing a spectacular gown, red wig and a crown, reprises her role as Carabosse. A principal dancer since 2006, Cornejo is leaving the company after the ballet’s run to head a dance studio with her husband in Jamaica Plain.

“The audience will get chills looking at her,” Ponomarenko said.

The Lilac Fairy has a less demanding dancing role, yet holds the production together, Ponomarenko said. Undermining the curse, the Lilac Fairy promises that Aurora will not die, but will fall into a spell for 100 years until a prince kisses her.

“She basically rules over everything,” she said. “She’s the epitome of kindness and generosity, and she lets us believe that good will prevail.”

While the kiss is climactic, Ponomarenko said it’s magical when Aurora dances in the second act as if she’s a vision.

“The audience has to feel that she is spectral, that the prince could almost see through her, yet still fall in love,” she said. “You have to create an illusion with your body that looks like you are changing form, like a cloud.”

Known for its sumptuous costumes and elaborate sets, the ballet displays those in full force in the finale wedding scene. It’s also a playful scene, when Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Blue Bird and other fairy tale characters join the celebration.